1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a dispenser having interchangeable face plates for providing plural dispensing modes for folded absorbent sheet products.
2. Description of Related Art
Various solutions have been proposed to provide dual dispensing modes in a dispenser for folded paper products. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,074, a carton of facial tissue is provided with a single opening configured to permit withdrawing tissues one-by-one from the top of the carton, or in a group from the side of the carton.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,415,949 describes a cartridge filled with paper napkins, used as an insert into a surrounding housing structure. The cartridge is reversible within the housing structure such that, when inserted one way, a first dispensing throat is exposed through which the napkins are withdrawn one-by-one, and, when inserted the opposite way, a second dispensing throat is exposed through which napkins may be withdrawn in groups.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,561 describes a napkin dispenser with interchangeable face plates, but these are configured merely to permit a single dispenser to store various styles and/or sizes of folded paper napkins, rather than to provide plural dispensing modes.
The approach taken to dual dispensing modes in U.S. Pat. No. 6,415,949 has the disadvantage that it requires the napkins to be supplied in pre-filled cartridges. That approach has a tendency to increase the ratio of waste product to useable product, in that, if it is desired to refill the dispenser before it has completely run out of napkins, the remaining napkins in the nearly spent cartridge will typically be discarded, as adding them to another cartridge would require the user to rip open the old and new cartridges.